Fantasy island for Americans

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"I have always wanted to come to Australia" ... American Toni Telander at home in North Sydney with her children, Kaya, two months, and Brady, 2. She recently relocated here because of her husband's work.

That Toni Telander should want to see Australia is not
remarkable.

As a 35-year-old, tertiary-educated female from Colorado, she
personifies the traveller - as identified by an international study
of tourists and their intentions - who would most "like to visit
Australia".

Yet "like to" by no means translates to "likely to" - and if her
husband hadn't been moved to Australia for work, Ms Telander would
not be in Sydney.

After three quiet years, Americans are again wanting to travel
internationally, and Australia is top of their destination
wish-list. The research, by Roy Morgan International, found there
were 5.7 million Americans who would like to visit Australia,
making the US Australia's biggest potential tourist market. But the
research also found only one in 20 of the Americans who said they
wanted to come here planned to do so in the next three years.

And while Americans identify Australia as their No. 1
destination, they also identify it as the country they "would most
like to visit, but is too expensive".

"We have some real barriers to overcome in this market," said
Rodney Harrex, Tourism Australia's general manager of international
operations. "In America we have a country of 250 million people,
but only a small percentage of them have the ability to travel to
Australia. Only 14 per cent of people in the US even hold
passports."

Tourism Australia's own market research suggests there are
between 8 million and 10 million Americans who have the capability
as well as the desire to travel to Australia. Yet last year only
422,000 made the trip.

"Australia is seen as a long-haul destination," Mr Harrex said.
"And when people commit to coming here it is not just competing
with other holiday choices, it is also competing with other things
they may decide to do, such as renovate a kitchen or buy a
car."

Still, Tourism Australia believes the situation is improving. A
70 per cent rise in US arrivals is forecast over the next nine
years. And if the Roy Morgan research is correct, the increase
could be fuelled by people such as Ms Telander.

"I have always wanted to come to Australia," she said. "But it
seems that all my travelling in the past has been to Third World
countries. I know I would have made it to Australia eventually, but
I guess I was saving it until I was older."